Paper art versatility on display at Erasmus Huis

Mario Koch, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Erasmus Huis, Kuningan, South Jakarta, is holding an exhbition titled Paper Art, through Oct. 30. It shows the work of 11 Dutch artists, inspired by the unique quality of paper as a medium of expression.

All the participants come from different backgrounds. With techniques ranging from drawing or painting to sculpting, none started their career using paper as a base for their work.

Attending the opening of the exhibition on Oct. 4, one of the artists, Marian Smit, told The Jakarta Post:" I started off being a weaver, as working with textiles was very popular with Dutch artisans in the 1970s. But in due course, many of my friends started experimenting with paper, so I also gave it a try.

"I became fascinated immediately," she continued. "I didn't need a loom anymore and everything became much less expensive. Paper is very easy to find and one can instantly set out to create something."

Her works presented at Erasmus Huis consist of loose sculptures made by binding screwed-up, colored Japanese silk- paper onto rugby ball-shaped pieces of silicon.

Visitors to the exhibition will definitely enjoy the extensive versatility of the artwork on display.

Couzijn van Leeuwen utilizes materials he finds, especially cartons. These are cut into strips that he molds into autonomous sculptures using staples. For the current exhibition, he built an entire living-room in African colonial style, including a bird in a cage and a bedside carpet that looks like a rhinoceros.

The lively, seemingly moving sculptures by Martine Horstman are made by combining and folding colorful cards, which are starting to become available free at cafes and bars all over the world.

A very different example of utilizing paper for art is presented by Nel Lissen. She specializes in jewelry-like necklaces and rings, composed of repeated shapes of wrapping paper. With the paper folded and shackled, the form and color of the pieces changes constantly when worn.

Paper art is relatively new to the world of visual arts. Only in the late 1950s did interest in traditional methods of paper- making develop in the U.S., largely due to the work of paper- obsessed Dard Hunter.

From 1911 onwards, he was keenly interested in the craft of paper-making, which had almost ceased to exist in the Western world. Not only did he set up a paper mill that followed 17th- century tradition, but he also published more than 20 books on the subject.

The craft of paper-making can be followed in Erasmus Huis by watching Aliza Thomas. Using a pulp of mulberry fiber, water and pigments, she produces the material for her works right on the spot. These are colorful, multilayered creations, for which inspiration is drawn from Asia.

"I started by studying sculpture in Brussels and Paris. But as I moved a lot, I could never keep the things I had made and ended up placing them next to city lampposts," Aliza said.

"When I then learned paper-making in Japan, I decided to create flat sculptures from handmade paper," she explained. "Even if it is easier to move those now, when one doesn't sell, I just put it back into the vat and make new paper out of it."

To increase the international recognition of paper art, several foundations were brought into being, the most well-known being the International Association of Hand Papermakers and Paper Artists (IAPMA), founded in 1986.

In the Netherlands, home country to the participating artists in Erasmus Huis, the popularity of paper art has largely been increased by the biannual Holland Paper Biennial in the museum at Rijswijk.

Anne Kloosterboer, conservator in Rijswijk and curator of the exhibition in Jakarta, told the Post:" We want to show these artworks to the Indonesian public to make them interested in paper art. This country has everything -- both natural resources for making paper and creative and talented people. Still, there seem to be hardly any paper artists.

"Paper is such a great material. It combines strength, flexibility, transparency and fragility and thus is an inexpensive, inexhaustible source of expression," she concluded.

Centuries-old craftsmanship, together with modern, abstract artistic viewpoints, makes for an experience of its own in Erasmus Huis.

October's Paper Art exhibition is definitely worth a visit.

in box Paper Art exhibition through Oct. 30 Erasmus Huis Jl. H. R. Rasuna Said Kav. S-3 Jakarta 12950

Mondays to Thursdays 9 a.m. through 4 p.m. Fridays 9 a.m. through 2 p.m. Saturdays 9 a.m. through noon

admission free